In “OpenCPN” Press the “Question” ? button in the Toolbar and then Help to access the built-in version. The installed documentation will open in your default browser.

This is the first place to go for help, read the documentation please. The Canvas Toolbar is labeled “A” and Toolbar Hamburger is labeled “B”. When OpenCPN is set for dual canvas there are two Canvas Hamburgers

Often, OpenCPN support will require copies of your Configuration Settings File and/or your Log File to diagnose your problem. The “LogFile” opencpn.log and “ConfigFile” opencpn.ini links for this are found in the screenshot above. Click and copy the contents to Clipboard and then copy to a file using your favorite text editor. Attach them to a Cruiser's Forum post.

Additionally this OpenCPN.org online Wiki Manual should answer most new user questions. Navigation by the DokuWiki “Search” field above. For unanswered questions use the OpenCPN Forum and use your browser's built-in search ability, known as Find“ (Alt+F).

See Support File Details

If you ask questions on the forum, you may be asked to provide the content of these files. Also changing some default settings is done in configuration file (opencpn.ini or opencpn.conf) with a text editor (advanced topic).

• Configuration file (opencpn.ini or conf) is where all data, that needs to be persistent between sessions, are stored.
• Log file (opencpn.log) Time based record of activities and errors from the current session.
• OpenCPN Version When asking questions on the forum, provide Version from Toolbars > ? (Help).

To find the locations of the files go to the ToolBar click on “?.

• A quick way to view the logfile is to copy the full file path and then paste this into the address field in your web browser.
• For quick copying of the opencpn.ini and opencpn.log use the two links. This is useful for publishing on the Cruiser Forum OpenCPN Area if asked to do so. Please use the Forum “Code” button before pasting, as this guarantees an exact copy.

The “opencpn.log” is in your home directory.
The “opencpn.conf” is in a hidden directory, called “opencpn”, also in your home directory.
For a quick way to view the files you can try these commands.

 $gedit `echo $HOME/opencpn.log` 

$gedit `echo $HOME/.opencpn/opencpn.conf` 

Of course you can swap “gedit” for your favorite editor.

These two files may be more difficult to find because the folder containing the logfile is hidden, so you need to change your systems “Folder Options” to show it.

For example, the C:\ProgramData folder is by default hidden in Windows 7/8/10/11. Here's how to get to it. To access it you need to un-hide it by doing the following:

1. Go to Control Panel > Folder Options
2. Switch to View tab
3. Select “Show hidden files, folders and drives”.
4. Unselect “Hide extensions for know file types” to get this state:

Now you will be able to find your logfile.

The logfile, “opencpn.log” , is in / Users/ “user name” /Library/Logs/ and the “opencpn.ini ” is in the / Users/ “user name” /Library/Preferences/opencpn/ directory.

• GPS